9/11

Before I start this post, I want to take a moment to ask you to read this article Woman Killed and keep this family and situation in your prayers. This is a church that isn't too far from us. It's in an area that i know we're bound to know people at, as the church we previously went to closed and it's members spread to churches all in that area.
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September 11, 2001 is the fourth date in history that I can say "I remember where I was when . . . "

I was 8 months pregnant with Alaina. It was a Tuesday morning and I was headed to the preschool I ran in nearby Garland. I was listening to the radio and they were interviewing some pop star (heck if I know who . .. some chick). They didn't stop the interview to announce the first plane, as everyone thought it was a horrible accident. By the time the second plane hit, they knew it wasn't. We kept the TVs off that day, as I didn't want any children to possibly see any of the footage. I can't tell you how much footage I saw after getting home that day . . .far into the night, the next day, and for several days after that. I watched the tributes, the people searching hospitals, etc for loved ones, etc. I have watched very little TV news in the last 5 years. I was very numb. . . actually did very little crying, which was unusual for me. Now, 5 years later, I see some show, some article, some news story, and I cry. . . a delayed mourning, I guess.

I remember that for several days, there were no planes. The skies were so quiet, so peaceful. I couldn't name a time that I hadn't seen planes in the air for that long of a period. Certainly not in the recent past.

People were concerned . . . concerned about gas and money. I went out to make a bank deposit during lunch and the lines at the pump were LONG. And everyone was worried about how much money they should pull out to get through this. I thought "I can so see how the depression started . . . "

Alaina was born 1 month and 1 day later. I remember worrying about what her world would be like, what kind of safety she (and her sibs) would have in their life.

The other "I remember where I was when . . . ." moments:

March 30, 1981 -- I was 10 years old. I was on the playground during recess. . . obviously not feeling social that day as I was sitting in one of several huge concrete pipes that we had on the playground (Not sure why they put those there as playground equipment!) reading The Westing Game. The herded us back inside and that's where we learned of Ronald Reagan's shooting. At that point, I already knew that JFK had been shot in Dallas, and that there had been a stigma attached to Dallas because of it. I also remembered seeing George Bush Sr. at a rally the previous summer in Dallas with my Girl Scout Troup. And I remember that we still had a girl scout meeting on March 30th after school. It involved some kind of craft (can't remember what) and planning an upcoming camping trip.

January 28, 1986 -- I was newly 15, and a freshman in high school. While sitting in Geometry class, the principal announced over the loud speaker that Challenger had exploded shortly after take off. My teacher (still remember her name Mrs. Harrison) said "Oh, that's said" and went back to teaching us proofs. This was the 2nd time she'd shown she didn't know how to deal with bad news in as many months. The month before, another freshman at our school died in a car accident. As honors students, we all knew each other well . . . and Mrs. Harrison knew that. She didn't say a word about the tragedy.

The rest of the day was spent going from one class to the next, then crowding around TVs and watching the unfolding coverage.

February 1, 2003 -- On this Saturday morning, Andy and I were still in bed when we felt the house slightly shake. The playroom was under our bedroom, and we assumed it was one of the kids who'd been sitting in a rocking chair we had down there and had hit the wall (tehehe . . .this was a common occurance). I went downstairs to see who was up and was surprised to find that all the kids were still asleep. Of course, we later discovered this occurred the same time as the Columbia explosion, and that little "quakes" (for lack of a better word) were felt in our area. Columbia actually broke up over our area, then ended up landing near where my sister lived 4 hours away.